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To take Cage's investigations into "silence" further, he sat in an anechoic chamber - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber https://en.wikipedia.org/wi
by frereubu 3y ago
To take Cage's investigations into "silence" further, he sat in an anechoic chamber - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber - and afterwards remarked to the technician that he heard a high whine and a low rumble so there must have been an issue with the soundproofing. The technician told him that the high whine was his nervous system and the low rumble was his bloodflow.
Cage's book "Silence" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silence:_Lectures_and_Writings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silence:_Lectures_and_Writings - is a really interesting and accessibile read for people interested in sound.
- grzeshru 3y ago[flagged]
- jodrellblank 3y agoEven if you're right, why sign up a new account on HN to post a one-line insult about someone you've never met?
- LoganDark 3y agoI can second this observation. I'm autistic and my brain is less adept at filtering out stimuli, so it's easy for me to detect both of those phenomena. I do wonder how the nervous system itself causes that high whine simply by existing, though. Is it something inherent in how audio signals are transmitted to the brain?
- polishdude20 3y agoIt could be mild tinnitus no?
- LoganDark 3y agoNo, sometimes one or both of my ears will suddenly start ringing for a few minutes and that would be tinnitus. But this seems to just be inherent to existing.
- polishdude20 3y agoI mean that some people with Tinnitus hear it all the time. Maybe you've got another background quiet tinnitus. I know I've got it all the time and when it's quiet I can hear it.
- LoganDark 3y agoYeah, I have a relative who can barely hear because their tinnitus is so loud all the time. And maybe. I don't know if it's possible to tell for sure.
- Funes- 3y ago>I can second this observation. I'm autistic and my brain is less adept at filtering out stimuli, so it's easy for me to detect both of those phenomena. I have ADHD, and I wonder if it also makes us better at picking up "background" sounds, since we're so easily distractible in general, and our focus tends to drift away, unless we're "hyperfocused". It stands to reason that any change in the background is better picked up when your focus is usually so wide, so to speak, perhaps to the detriment of perceiving foreground phenomena. I'm always that one person who says "hey, what's that sound coming from such and such, can't you hear it?" or can locate their source better.
- LoganDark 3y agoI have ADHD too, and I do notice small things like that, too. Most people I've talked to that are not autistic, though, cannot even hear any background noise when it's quiet, even if they try. It's as if their brain completely filters it out. But my brain's filters are defective, so.